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Canadians voted for a sweeping change in government Monday, giving Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau a majority to end the nearly 10-year rule of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Election returns showed Trudeau's Liberals winning a majority of the 338 seats in Parliament. With 85% of polls reporting, the Liberals either won or were leading in 185 seats. The party needed to win 170 seats for a majority government.
Trudeau, 43, the oldest son of the late prime minister Pierre, will become the second youngest prime minister in Canadian history.
The story is being carried by USA Today and just about every major news outlet. There were some economic takes on the election as well.
takyon: Results at CBC and BBC. DeSmog Canada has an analysis focusing on potential shifts in environmental and science policies:
The Liberal party has taken a strong stance on the war on science in Canada, promising to free scientists to speak publicly about their work. Trudeau has also promised to instate a Parliamentary Science Officer to ensure transparency, expertise and independence of federal scientists. This position will mirror that of the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
In addition to unmuzzling scientists, the party also wants to work collaboratively with the provinces, First Nations and other stakeholders when it comes to ocean management. This is significant in light of the Conservative government's de-funding of numerous marine science programs, including the only research being conducted into the effects of industrial pollutants on marine mammals. The Liberal party has promised to reinstate $40 million of funding for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
(Score: 5, Informative) by aristarchus on Tuesday October 20 2015, @06:19AM
Let me be the first to offer congratulations to citizens of the Great White North! Hosers! Your long national nightmare is over.
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Tuesday October 20 2015, @08:33AM
Ditto here.
And please let this mean you will torpedo that abhorrent TPPA while you are at it.
You will have my eternal gratitude.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by davester666 on Tuesday October 20 2015, @09:32AM
Totally not going to happen. If Harper was doing his best George Bush impression [including doing his best to make Canadian politics more like the US, an us vs them, if you are against us, you are a terrorist, on and on], Trudeau is clearly a puppet. There are a bunch of very wealthy men that will tell him exactly what to do.
The TPP is definitely going to pass, possibly even quicker than if Harper was reelected. If you think it won't, or that the Liberal platform is that the TPP is to be rejected, remember back to the 'Red Book' Liberal platform. Basically EVERYTHING they promised, in writing, before the election, once they got power it became "oh, now that we're in power, we found out things that now we can't do any of that stuff."
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 20 2015, @03:29PM
One can see how that can be abused, but that is also a realistic scenario to be in. It is easy to make promises on the campaign trail if you don't or can't know what what the ramifications are, or whether something is even possible. For example, it is easy to say that you'd close Gitmo, but then you find out that you can't because you either don't have anywhere to release prisoners, Congress blocks you from transferring them elsewhere, or the home countries refuse to take them in.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Wednesday October 21 2015, @12:41AM
It's relative. For example, the Liberals wanted to get rid of the GST, it was the main point of their campaign. Oops, no, we can't afford to do that, like that was a huge surprise.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday October 20 2015, @06:14PM
I don't know. Perhaps being in the US has made me overly cynical, but I can *hope* that the change will produce the desired results without expecting it.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.